WWE fan in hot water after death threats

Jeff Morganteen, Staff Writer

Published 10:37 pm, Monday, May 3, 2010

STAMFORD -- Zavr Peygumbari is a serious wrestling fan in some serious trouble.

Peygumbari, 22, of Pennsylvania Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y., is accused of calling the WWE headquarters on East Main Street more than 20 times last week, making threats to blow up the company's offices and saying he would visit the building with a machete and a machine gun, because it recently released former women's champion Mickie James, court records show.

He was arrested Friday and arraigned Monday afternoon at state Superior Court in Stamford. His defense attorney, Mickey Sherman, described Peygumbari as a fervent wrestling fan who did not intend to follow through on his threats.

Peygumbari was initially held at the Stamford Police Department this weekend on $250,000 bond. This was lowered to $5,000 Monday after Sherman argued for him to be released on a written promise to appear in court. Court records indicate he was known to New York City police as being emotionally disturbed.

During his arraignment, Peygumbari apologized to the court for the phone calls, calling them childish and foolish.

"I'm sorry for wasting the time of the courts and taxpayers' money," Peygumbari said while handcuffed and wearing a yellow t-shirt.

When Judge William Wenzel told Peygumbari he could not contact WWE employees, go near its Stamford offices, or attend their events, Peygumbari's response elicited chuckles from the courtroom.

"I'm not allowed to go to wrestling shows?" he asked.

The threatening phone calls began on April 24 and continued until April 27, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Nineteen calls were made to WWE offices on April 24, and a handful of calls were made in the following days.

Five calls were recorded on voicemail. On each one, a caller with a slight New York accent said he was upset with the departure of James, asking why she was fired, an affidavit states. The caller, believed to be Peygumbari, became agitated and used profanity to make threats against WWE and its employees. During one phone call, he threatening to kill an employee and his family, court documents state.

In message, Peygumbari allegedly left the cell phone number he was calling from, giving "Steve" as a name. Police traced the number to Brooklyn, N.Y. The cell phone subscriber was a relative of Peygumbari's, court records show.

In March, Peygumbari was arrested in New York City on marijuana charges; he had a cell phone on him when he was taken into custody. That phone's number matched the number given to Stamford police by WWE officials and police applied for an arrest warrant charging Peygumbari in connection to the threatening phone calls.

Peygumbari was charged with four counts of fourth-degree threatening, one count of second-degree harassment and two counts of second-degree threatening.

"It's a testament to the WWE that they get people so psyched up in the story lines," Sherman said.

The charges against Peygumbari were filed a day before a car bomb almost exploded in Times Square in Manhattan.

"In 2010, you can understand why an organization would hit the panic button," Sherman said of the WWE decision to report the phone calls to police.

Peygumbari is due in court May 25.

Staff Writer Jeff Morganteen can be reached at jeff.morganteen@scni.com or 203-964-2215.